OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Apple designer Jony Ive are pushing their joint AI hardware startup. Investors such as Emerson and Thrive Capital are interested. The mysterious device won't look like a phone.
According to The Information, the startup is in funding talks with major venture capital firms, including Emerson Collective and Thrive Capital, whose founders are friends with Altman and Ive. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son was also involved in early discussions, but his current involvement is unclear.
Ive is reportedly seeking up to $1 billion in funding. Thrive Capital has already invested in OpenAI, whose language models could potentially power some of the proposed device's features.
People familiar with the discussions say the AI device will provide a natural and intuitive user experience primarily through voice interaction, and that it won't look like a phone.
Similar conceptual AI hardware for consumers, such as the Rabbit R1 and Humane pin, use action-driven language models like personal assistants that can perform tasks beyond answering questions, such as detailed web searches and ticket reservations.
Success in this endeavor could strengthen OpenAI's position against competitors like Meta, Google, and Apple in the race to create AI-powered devices with voice assistants. But the project is still in its infancy. OpenAI and Microsoft's competitors already have hundreds of millions of AI-enabled hardware devices on the market.
Some skeptical investors caution against high valuations at this early stage for an unproven product category. It is unknown whether OpenAI will have a financial stake in Altman and Ive's hardware company.
Altman is also pursuing other side projects that complement his work as OpenAI CEO, including a network to develop and manufacture AI training and inference chips that could potentially compete with Nvidia. OpenAI is expected to participate and become a customer of that company.
